Publications

• Documents of the CEPE
• Working papers
• Other documents

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Documents of the CEPE

Progress Report on Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion in Québec - 2016

This progress report is a compilation of the most recent data on poverty and inequality in Québec.

After reviewing the latest low income thresholds and rates, the report presents and discusses the results of interregional, interprovincial and international comparisons. Changes in Québec affecting the disposable income of individuals and family units is shown for the period from 2004 to 2016 by comparing various implicit thresholds and using simulations of typical cases that take into account the new Canada Child Benefit.

It concludes with a presentation of various inequality measures.

Compared with the previous report, this edition has several new features:

• A section on low income work has been added. Also, the methodological choices that underpin the definition adopted are presented in an appendix.
• The results for Québec of the Canadian Survey of Economic Well-Being are cited with respect to the question of material deprivation.
• In the section on inequality, showing incomes according to decile rather than quintile was made possible by the recent availability of Statistics Canada microdata on income classified by decile.
• A previously published table, updated with new data now available in Statistics Canada's Survey of Financial Security, shows the assets, debts and net worth of family units according to net asset quintiles.

Progress Report on Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion in Québec (PDF, 2 MB)

• Erratum (French only, PDF, 180 KB)

Advisory opinion on measuring social exclusion associated with poverty

The purpose of this advisory opinion is to propose indicators for monitoring social exclusion.

Certain observations stand out from others when the nine indicators that have been developed are used:

• The low-income population is generally at much greater risk of experiencing social exclusion situations or mechanisms related to all five dimensions identified: material conditions, health, work and employment, education and networks.
• Several indicators seem to indicate the absence of deterioration or even a slight amelioration of certain aspects of social exclusion associated with poverty since 2000. However the stability suggested should not be interpreted as an indication of any significant improvement in people’s situations.
• Poverty is a major risk factor for experiencing social exclusion just as, conversely, exclusion itself is a significant impediment to getting out of poverty. Poverty and social exclusion exist in combination and can mutually reinforce each other.

Avis sur la mesure de l'exclusion sociale associée à la pauvreté (French only, PDF, 2,8 MB)

Avis sur la mesure de l'exclusion sociale associée à la pauvreté – Document synthèse (French only, PDF, 2,3 MB)

New release of the situation of poverty in Québec - 2013

This progress report is a compilation of the most recent data on poverty and inequality in Québec.

After reviewing the latest low income thresholds and rates, the report presents and discusses the results of interregional, interprovincial and international comparisons. To compare Québec against itself, it uses simulations of typical cases to identify changes in the relative levels of personal and family disposable income, in relation to various thresholds, over the period 2004 to 2013. The report also describes various measures of inequality.

The following innovations have been integrated into the 2013 edition of the report:

• description of various economic benchmarks in the Introduction section
• number of persons with low incomes based on the Market Basket Measure (in addition to rates), to help readers understand the scope of the phenomenon from the viewpoint of various characteristics (gender, age, family status, etc.)
• interprovincial comparisons of low income rates for the population as a whole, young people (under age 18) and seniors (age 65 and over)
• percentage breakdown of market income and after-tax income, unadjusted and adjusted for family size
• table of excess family income, extracted from sustainable development indicators, to complement inequality data

Poverty, inequality and social exclusion in Québec, 2013 progress report (PDF, 552 KB)

Poverty, Inequality and Social exclusion in Québec, 2012 Progress Report

This progress report is a compilation of the most recent data on poverty and inequality in Québec.

After reviewing the latest low income thresholds and rates, the report presents and discusses the results of interregional, interprovincial and international comparisons. To compare Québec against itself, it uses simulations of typical cases to identify changes in the relative levels of personal and family disposable income, in relation to various thresholds, over the period 2004 to 2012. The report also describes various measures of inequality.

The following innovations have been integrated into the 2012 edition of the report:

• comparison of low income rates in Canada, by census metropolitan area (CMA)
• international comparisons using available Eurostat data up to 2009 (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions—EU-SILC)
• graph showing the percentage breakdown of market income and after-tax income, adjusted for family size, in 2010
• comparisons of inequality in various Canadian provinces and other countries, in terms of Gini coefficients
  

• Poverty, inequality and social exclusion in Québec, 2012 progress report (PDF, 647 KB)

Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion in Québec: Looking Ahead to 2013. 2011 Progress Report

This progress report represents a compilation of the most recent data on poverty and inequality in Québec.

After reviewing the latest low income thresholds and rates, the results of interregional, interprovincial and international comparisons are presented and discussed. To compare Québec against itself, we simulated typical cases to determine changes in the relative level of personal and family disposable income in relation to various existing thresholds over the period 2004-2011. The report also discusses various measures of inequality. The CEPE has initiated research on the dimensions and indicators of social exclusion.

• Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion in Québec: Looking Ahead to 2013. 2011 Progress Report (PDF, 325 KB)

Taking the Measure of Poverty: Proposed Indicators of Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion to Measure Progress in Québec

One of the mandates of the Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion is to advise the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity on measures and indicators of poverty, inequality and social exclusion for measuring Québec’s progress in implementing the Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion.

This document constitutes an initial recommendation to that end:

• Taking the Measure of Poverty: Proposed Indicators of Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion to Measure Progress in Québec, Advice to the Minister (PDF, 312 KB)
  

Report on low incomes in Québec

(Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion, 2008)

This document describes poverty trends in recent years and the proportion of low-income family units among Quebecers, the gap between their income and low-income thresholds, the duration of their situation, and their main sociodemographic and economic characteristics. More detailed information is provided about unattached persons and last-resort financial assistance recipients.

The document was commissioned by the Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale with a view to improving public understanding of what it means to be in a situation of poverty and social exclusion.

Highlights:

• The low income rate has dropped since the late 1990s.
• The Montréal region has the highest low-income rate, and the Chaudière-Appalaches region, the lowest.
• Low income is generally a temporary phenomenon, but is persistent in certain segments of the population, including single-parent families and unattached persons (in Canada).
• Nearly half of low-incomers are unattached persons.
• Slightly more than half of low-income family units have no earnings.
• The family units composed of an unattached person post the widest gap between income and low-income thresholds. This is also the case with last-resort financial assistance recipients, notably, those with no limitations to employment.

• Report on low incomes in Québec (French only, PDF, 1,58 MB)
• Press release (French only, PDF, 94 KB)

Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec

Published jointly by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) and the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS), the Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec (Morin 2006) groups together the main indicators in this field of study taken from the Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d’exclusion sociale (Morasse 2005). An invaluable research tool, it constitutes a reliable empirical benchmark to be used to measure over time the improvement or deterioration of the situation of persons and families living in poverty (historical transversal data), and also their relative position with respect to other groups in society.

Composed of more than 20 indicators calculated according to different conceptual approaches and methodologies, this can be used for assessing various statistical tools and determining which appear to be more productive. The indicators in this report were classed in three main categories.

• First are the poverty indicators  on the incidence of this phenomenon (either from a point of view of income or expenditures), on its gravity and also on related government transfers (particularly social assistance).
• Second is the impact of socioeconomic indicators of inequality using indicators for the distribution of income in society.
• Finally, two composite indicators deal with the problem of the most disadvantaged by combining economic statistics (income, expenditures, etc.) and social statistics (isolation with respect to social networks, social referral groups, etc.).
• Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec (French only, PDF, 274 MB)

Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d’exclusion sociale

Published jointly by the Institut de la statistique du Québec and the ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS), this inventory of poverty and social exclusion indicators (Morasse 2005) gives an overview of the many ways of defining and measuring the phenomenon of poverty. It has two objectives: to cover all aspects of  the multidimensional phenomenon that is poverty and to open new avenues by presenting not only indicators calculated for Québec, but also those used elsewhere that could be the object of future compilations.

• Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d’exclusion sociale (French only, PDF, 474 KB)